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Originally Posted by //M Also what other colors on offer apart from the maroon, silver and golden brown metallic? |
Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO White and black for sure. Maybe that champagne / golden colour of the 3rd-gen? |
Color options to be offered with the 2014 City:
A wonderful, detailed, crisp, dynamite of a review! With all the attention given to even the minutest of details, it has raised this Team-BHP review to a notch much above all other Team-BHP reviews till date. 5-stars for the review, and 5 more for the fantastic, detailed pictorial. Hats off, GTO!
Much has been said about the 2014 City's strong points and weaknesses, so I won't repeat those. But, I thank GTO and his review team for helping me in finalising a critical decision for myself -
I have cancelled my booking of the 2014 City.
Reasons:
I had booked the 2014 City on 7th November. Back then there wasn't any concrete information about the new-gen City, except for what
Team-BHPian sawnilrules had reported in the other City thread. Based on that info, plus the unveiling of the 2013 Fit, and the (pretty strong) rumors of Honda going the VGT route for the diesel offering, I had made the decision of booking the diesel.
In short, I was expecting an all-new City with front looks of the 2013 Fit/Vezel (similar to the rendering doing the rounds back then), an all-new platform, a bunch of new, unique features to go up against the closest C-segment competitor, a carried-over/all-new rear and side profile, and most importantly, a VGT-enabled diesel (at least, to distinguish itself from the Amaze) and a nicely tweaked petrol.
The unveiling on 25th November was the first disappointment. Despite the razmatazz surrounding the novel features offered in the new City, and despite trying to convince myself that the new one will have more reasons to smile (inside, rather than outward looks), the City looked
too familiar, specially from the front/side.
No marks to Honda for not improving on anything over the current-gen City externally, except for that fantastic rear. "
If it ain't broken, don't fix it, but fix everything else which is broken", seemed to be Honda's mantra, but it is really disappointing because this was supposed to be an all-new generation. There was supposed to be
some revolution. The evolution will be appreciated by the general car-buying public who run to Maruti/Hyundai showrooms with their eyes closed, but for people like me, it went nowhere.
The side profile of the current-gen is actually WAY better than that of this one and looks much cleaner (the indent-like crease stretching across the body looks outlandish, IMO), and even with the loud, aggressive grille of the current-gen in front, it's still WAY better than the overloaded chrome moustache provided in the 2014 City.
Nice looking headlamps, but expected better from Honda, since the competition is moving up (heck, Maruti is offering projectors on the Stingray!)
Interiors are basically a carbon copy of the current gen (even the glove compartment looks the same). Most changes are restricted to the dashboard with that superb touchscreen ACC, new HU, etc. But the layout makes it look half-baked - most of the additions (hazard light button, start/stop button) were thrown in at the last possible moment, as if the engineers had completely forgotten about them and were suddenly reminded by the design team about what things they had missed.
Is it just me or was anyone else reminded of the Hyundais when you saw those phone controls on the 2014 City's steering? It will be a distraction while driving in the city, specially for those who get a lot of calls. I, for one, prefer the controls on the steering itself (as buttons on both sides of the horn pad). Let's hope that the "handsfree" function does its job.
Most of the stuff
sawnilrules had listed in his post had made it into the 2014 City, except the bi-xenons/projectors. With the amount of premium Honda will command for the top VX variants now, they should have provided projectors at least. Even halogen-based ones would have been welcome.
Points from GTO's review:
The City is supposed to be a premium sedan, right? The most-cherished premium sedan of the country has door panels moving when the windows are rolled down/up?! What were the Honda guys thinking?
A big thumbs up for moving the fuel tank to the rear. The increased wheelbase allowed them to do so I guess. Safety-wise, that's great.
Engine-guard was much needed. The current-gen came with thinner, separate panels at the bottom which didn't do much guarding, so if this one is thicker, it should do the job.
Same tyres and an alloy design inspired by the bullock-cart wheels?!
So, someone spending close to 15L OTR for the VX diesel has to spend at least another 40K on a good set of alloys + upsized tyres?! At least with the current-gen City, there was a choice of alloys between the S MT (5-spoke) and the V MT (10-spoke Accord-
ish). Hoping (against hope) that the same is continued with the 2014 City as well, and we have some nice, gunmetal-finish alloys (even 10-spoke ones) offered on the S MT variant.
Whoever chose those particular alloys for the 2014 City in the Honda R&D team, really,
really need to get their heads examined.
Biggest disappointment and grouse - the diesel is a carbon copy of the Amaze. Same power, same torque, in short, identical. Only a 6th gear differentiates the Amaze and the City. That, and a 0.2 kmpl ARAI figure. The Amaze diesel has suddenly become a VFM offering, compared to the City, because now basically, spending another 6L over and above the Amaze VX will get you a 6th gear, a bunch of frill features, some more interior space, better plastics and bunch of chrome whatnots. (long list of features yes, but still beaten by the Verna/Fiesta)
No thanks.
If I move to the petrol, it won't make sense to get a similar car to my Silver Pegasus just for a bunch of added features at an extra cost. The i-VTEC is the same, with a negligible bump in figures. Basically, its the same car with an all-new dashboard and a 60mm extension thrown into the deal.
My Pegasus is serving me just fine. The engine has nicely opened up by now and I am getting some superb performances in the highway runs. No doubt the petrol is the enthusiast's choice, because the i-VTEC is in a league of it's own! Combine that with the mind-boggling FE figures I am achieving both inside the city and on the highways, and it's pretty much an eyes-shut exercise in decision making. And, my Pegasus boasts of some stuff which even this 2014 City doesn't have - Focals, a full touchscreen DVD/BT Head Unit, JBL GTOs, etc.
And, now that the 2014 City has been launched with all these added features, it's a given that they will be continued for future generations as well. We can expect a facelift to this one by 2017 and the next-generation City by 2020 (going by the product lifecycle), and that would make more sense as an upgrading choice. Let's hope that VGT and/or turbocharged petrols/diesels come into the equation by then.
Quite frankly put, the only 2 appeals this 2014 City has, are it's rear derriere and that fantastic looking ACC. Nothing else excites me now.
Considering all of the above, my booking stands cancelled.
I will now wait for the all-new 2014 Jazz to be unveiled. Really hope that they give us the 2013 Fit, and not another half-baked product like the 2014 City. In the end, we wouldn't want the entire world to have the 2013 Fit while we in India got a tweaked, older-gen Jazz, much like the 2014 City. If Honda proves me right, it will replace our Ritz in my garage.